Chapter 4

Judge Brady, of the Supreme Court, says, "If I had been a legislator I would never have voted for this law.... It is evident that mere nudity in painting and sculpture is not obscenity. It is a false delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from sight all such objects." Public opinion should be directed against the vice society which employs and pays such a tool as Comstock. The prosecution which he instigated against Mrs. Elmina Slenker, of Virginia, resulted in her acquittal.

The _N. Y. Evening Post_ says, "If there is to be a prosecution in this Knoedler case, and these prints should send some one to jail, we for our part think Anthony Comstock should be the man."

HYGIENE.--Sir Spencer Wells, in an address to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Nottingham, England, referred to sanitary improvements which had reduced the annual death rate from twenty-nine in a thousand to nineteen, and said that it ought to be reduced to fifteen or twelve. He then said, "And if we have--as we really have--seen the average duration of human life in Great Britain advance from thirty years (which it was half a century ago) to forty-nine years (which it is now, according to life tables), why may we not witness a still further advance? Why should seventy or eighty years remain as the usual limit of human life? Why should its natural duration under perfectly healthy surrounding conditions not be at least 100 years, with an occasional extension of some ten or fifteen years more?"

"When people are made to understand that at least nine-tenths of the deaths in England are premature, the representatives of the most parsimonious rate payers will be compelled by the criticism of the public to remember that they also represent the more sacred interests of human life and happiness, and that resistance to sanitary improvements is punished by preventable disease and premature death. High local mortality is largely due to want of local information. For the tens or hundreds who are killed by murder or manslaughter, or by accident, or in battles on land or sea, thousands and millions are victims of preventable disease. When this is fully understood, no imperial Government, no local authority, will dare to incur the responsibility of such a national disgrace."

Dr. Wells then forcibly illustrated the dangerous and pestilential results of our system of burying the dead, planting the germs of diseases in the ground to come forth again, and corrupting the water supply. London alone uses 2,200 acres of land for cemeteries, and England and Wales have 11,000 cemeteries, costing for the land over $600 per acre, all dangerous to health, while about $25,000,000 are annually expended on funerals. For all this cremation was the remedy.

A distinguished English physician, addressing the International Hygiene Society at Vienna, said that the gain to England in the last fifty years from improvement in health was equal to $1,500,000,000.

QUININE.--This famous drug, which was once as high as $5 an ounce, has become very cheap by preserving the trees which were formerly destroyed in gathering "Peruvian Bark." The drug may now be purchased in quantities at half a dollar an ounce. The trees now yield a crop of bark every year. The fashionable sulphate of quinine, which is most extensively used, I consider the most objectionable form of the drug. My favorite form is the dextro-quinine, made by Keasby & Matteson, Philadelphia. But quinine is not at all a necessity. It could be satisfactorily replaced by Declat's syrup of Phenic Acid, a French preparation, which is free from the objectionable qualities of quinine. But even that is not _necessary_, for we have in the willow, the dogwood, and the apple tree, three American barks, which might well replace Peruvian bark by their fluid extracts and alkaloids. To these we may add Gnaphalium (or Life Everlasting), an admirable remedy in fever, and other medicines and combinations of value. Our slavish dependence on Peruvian bark has been due to our ignorance.

LIFE AND DEATH.--Perilous is the fisherman's life. In the past year, ending October, 1887, Gloucester, Mass., has lost 17 vessels and 127 lives of fishermen, leaving 60 widows and 61 fatherless children.

The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years, weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels.

Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins.--_Cin. Enq._

Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he'd rather be Wright than be President? We wouldn't.--_Norristown Herald_.

DOROTHEA L. DIX.--This noted philanthropist, whose labors in establishing asylums for the insane in America and Europe were never equalled, died last summer in New Jersey. An interesting tribute to her memory was delivered in Boston by the Rev. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, and I regret that the limited space of the Journal forbids its full republication. I can only quote this. "Being asked how she achieved such noble results in her work, she answered that she went to those whose duty it was to aid in any particular work, and was always sure that though at first they might refuse to do what they were asked, they would gradually become interested and _end by doing whatever was needed_." May her example in this be followed by all friends of progress.

THE DRIFT OF CATHOLICISM.--The purpose of the Catholic party to break up our unsectarian school system has been realized in Stearns Co., Minnesota, where their church property exceeds a million of dollars. The Catholic catechism is taught daily in nearly three-fourths of the public schools. Many of the schools are conducted in the German language, and some of the schools taught by the Benedictine sisters.

JUGGERNAUT.--It is a singular fact that at the late procession of the idol Juggernaut in India, instead of the thousand devotees who used to drag at the ropes to haul his chariot from the temple to the river, hired coolies had to be substituted, and the victims who willingly threw themselves under the ponderous wheels to be crushed to death, were entirely wanting.--_Commonwealth_.

CHAP. XI.--THE PRINCIPAL METHODS OF STUDYING THE BRAIN.

Cranioscopy, Pathology, and Vivisection, their failures recognized--Limitations of Craniology and its stationary condition--Human Impressibility explained--Its prevalence in different climates--Method of testing it.

In what manner shall we proceed to study the brain? All must admit the necessity of a thorough study of its anatomy; yet, unless we learn something of its functions, this anatomy is profitless and uninteresting; hence cerebral anatomy was crude and erroneous until, revolutionized by Gall and Spurzheim, it assumed a philosophical character and became connected with a doctrine of the cerebral functions.

For the study of these functions three principal methods have been adopted by eminent scientists: 1st. The method of Cranioscopy, practiced by Gall and his followers. 2d. The study of Pathological Anatomy. 3d. The mutilation of the brains of living animals. But neither Cranioscopy, Pathology, nor Vivisection has given satisfactory demonstrations, nor does the whole scope of the alleged results of all embrace more than half of the cerebral functions.

The results of Vivisection have been unsatisfactory. But it has shown that slicing away the anterior and upper parts of the brain of an animal produces a state of partial stupor--a loss of its intelligence and mental characteristics, without producing any great detriment to its muscular and physiological functions; while injuries inflicted upon the basilar parts of the brain produce evident derangements of muscular action, and are more dangerous to life. Vivisection has been almost entirely fruitless for the discovery of psychic functions, but in the hands of Prof. Ferrier and the continental vivisectors it has thrown much light upon cerebral psychology, and as I shall hereafter show, has confirmed my own discoveries.

Pathological Anatomy, too, has been extremely unprofitable. "The results of Pathological Anatomy (says Muller) can, however, never have more than a limited application to the physiology of the brain. We are unacquainted with the laws according to which the different parts of the organ participate in the functions of each other, and we can only, in a general way, regard as certain that organic diseases in one part of the brain may induce changes in the function of other parts; but from these facts and the results of Pathological Anatomy, we cannot always draw certain conclusions." Mr. Solly, after commenting on the general failure of Vivisection, remarks, "From pathology we might naturally expect surer evidence; but even here the physiologist who carefully examines its records is doomed to disappointment. As will be proved hereafter, no certain light has yet shone on physiology from this source." Cerebral pathology will not continue to be so barren a study when we have a true cerebral physiology to guide us. I find all pathological cases instructive as confirmations and illustrations of true cerebral science.

The method of Dr. Gall--studying the growth and development of the different parts of the brain, as indicated by the cranium--is the most simple, rational and successful of all the methods adopted up to the present time. In his hands it has elicited a valuable and practical, though rude, system of phrenology. But Craniology or skull-study cannot perfect, nor can it positively demonstrate, the science.

The observations of the craniologist are continually liable to error. The irregular thickness of the skull constitutes a great difficulty in the way of exact observations. By great expertness and accuracy of observation, he may overcome this difficulty in a great degree, but whenever the brain is subject to any remarkable influence, increasing or diminishing the activity and size of particular organs, the external form fails to indicate the internal condition, because it can change but slightly, and with slowness, after the skull is fully developed and ossified. Were the skull composed of more pliable materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts, but while it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes remarkable changes. Convolutions that are frequently called into action become better supplied with arterial blood, expand and grow, while the adjacent portion of the inner plate of the skull becomes absorbed, and presents a remarkable indentation. Convolutions that are seldom in action shrink in size, and the adjacent bone grows in upon them. Thus the skull becomes thinner at the site of every active organ, and thicker over every convolution that is inactive. The translucency or opacity of the different parts of the skull, when a light is placed in its interior, generally indicates the active and inactive organs. Hence, many skulls of fine exterior reveal, upon interior examination, a degenerate character. Criminal heads generally present remarkable opacity and thickness in the region of the moral organs, with distinct digital impressions from the convolutions of the lower organs.

Thus all craniological observations are liable to inaccuracy, even as regards development, and much more in regard to functional power. The activity, power and predominance of an organ may be essentially changed, without making any perceptible impression upon the interior of the skull, for an indefinite period. Changes in excitement and circulation, that revolutionize the character, may leave but a slight impression upon the interior, and none upon the exterior of the cranium. The external configuration of the skull is therefore not a true criterion of character when the influences of education, society, food, drink and disease have greatly changed the natural bias, although reliable in a strictly normal condition of brain and cranium.

Organs which easily expand laterally by encroachment upon their neighbors, which is a common effect of local excitement, must be slow to make any impression upon the superjacent bone of the cranium. Cranioscopy, moreover, is incompetent to indicate the development of small regions or portions of a convolution; it gives but a rude survey of development. Being thus incapable of minuteness, accuracy and certainty, it cannot be considered a proper and sufficient basis for cerebral science. In the hands of Gall and Spurzheim, it had already very nearly attained its limits as regards the subdivision of organs, and the progress of their followers in discovery has been unimportant or fallacious.

To what, then, can we resort, when the failures of Pathology and Vivisection are admitted, and we perceive the limited extent of the uncertain results of Craniology? Shall we not be compelled to resort to the same methods of investigation in the brain, which have been so successful in establishing the physiology of the nerves, viz.: direct experiment in exciting and arresting the action of the various masses of nervous fibre. Every sound physiologist must perceive that we are compelled to resort to experiment, or else to rest contented in ignorance of the true cerebral physiology. Muller, perceiving this, remarks, "The principle for the advancement of the physiology of the nerves then remains the same, viz.: experiment on the living nerves."

We therefore experiment on the living brain in that class of persons who are susceptible of being thus influenced; hence arises the last and most perfect method of cultivating Anthropology, by means of HUMAN IMPRESSIBILITY.

Our system of Anthropology relies, for its demonstration, upon human impressibility. Impressibility in its general sense, or the power of being affected by external agents, is proportional to the development of life. Inorganic matter is affected only mechanically or chemically--vegetation is powerfully affected by causes which would have no perceptible influence on stones or metals, and animals are affected by remote objects, by sounds, by the voice, and by other influences which do not affect vegetables. Animals of a higher grade are affected by many moral influences which produce no effect on the inferior classes, and man, having the fullest development of all, is continually receiving a variety of influences from nature and society, to which animals are wholly insensible. As man is superior to animals in impressibility, so is the man of genius or the man of superior moral sentiments more easily affected by everything that addresses the intellect or the sentiments, than the ignorant and selfish classes of society. Superior impressibility is then the result of a superior development of the organs which feel the various impressions. In the highest order of genius capacities exist which recognize a thousand subtle influences and beauties in Nature of which common minds are unconscious, and the psychic influence of a human being is instantly and thoroughly recognized.

For the purpose of analytical experiments upon the human functions, we require the development of a faculty which shall feel the influences we use. We look to the various forms of Sensibility. The organ of physical sensibility is situated in the temples, immediately over the cheek bone. It feels the influences of the various objects which affect the sense of feeling in all its modifications. Heat and cold, moisture and dryness, sound, light, and all the imponderable fluids produce their effects upon this region, and the more it is developed, the more powerfully are we affected by such agencies.

The portion of Sensibility which feels the influences of the human nervaura, is the highest portion of the organ, where it connects with Modesty, Somnolence, and Ideality. This we regard as the special organ of Nervauric Impressibility, because it renders the system so sensitive to the nervaura, as to be strongly affected whenever it is applied.

Mental impressibility is dependent upon intellectual organs, which feel the influences of mind. The power of recognizing mental action is dependent upon the internal part of the front lobe, located just above the root of the nose. This organ gives physiognomical talent, and a ready tact in appreciating the expression of mind through the eye, countenance, and gestures. It is a channel of mental sympathy, as displayed in the intercourse of society, and in the experiments of animal magnetism. By means of this organ, a general relation is established between the mind of the operator and that of the subject, which may exist without the capacity for local impressions, which would develop particular organs. It is devoted, however, to active perception rather than to passive impression. The faculty of being mentally impressed depends also upon the region of Spirituality and Marvellousness.

Mental and nervous impressibility being dependent upon these organs, it follows that a large development of the front lobe favors Impressibility, and that the occipital organs tend to diminish it. Impressibility lies in a group of organs which sustain it, and may be expected to accompany its development. Sensibility, Somnolence, Dreaming, Ideality, Modesty, Humility, Organic Sensibility, Relaxation, etc., are its natural accompaniments; hence it will be found most abundantly in those classes of society which are most remarkable for refinement, sensitiveness, modesty, diffidence, humility, or submissiveness, disease, languor, debility, and intellectual excitement. Religious excitement, love, mirthfulness, thoughtfulness, imagination, benevolence, sympathy, sincerity, faith, philanthropy, hope, epicurism, intemperance, ardor, spirituality, effeminacy, imitation, romance and, in short, all amiable, sensitive, intellectual, refining, relaxing influences may be regarded as promotive of impressibility, and their opposites as calculated to destroy it.

It is fortunate that disease promotes impressibility, for it enables the sick to be relieved by manipulation, and it causes medicines to operate more efficiently upon morbid constitutions or organs, which has been fully demonstrated by the Homoeopathic School of therapeutics. But impressibility does not imply disease, although it may make the system more accessible to slight morbific agencies. We find individuals occasionally, of the highest tone of health and bodily vigor, who are highly impressible. Nor does it imply mental weakness, for it is highly congenial to intellectuality, and is occasionally found among the strongest and most cultivated minds. Nervous Impressibility is that condition in which the nervaura has a powerful influence--in which the action of the brain and all the vital functions of the constitution may be controlled and indefinitely changed by the application of the hands of another individual--in which we are susceptible of being totally revolutionized in character by application of the fingers to the various organs, so as to become, for the time being, miserable or gay, philosophical, felonious, murderous, angry, stupid, insane, idiotic, drowsy, hot, cold, credulous, sceptical, timid, courageous, vain, indolent, sensual, hungry, diffident, haughty, avaricious, etc.; and in which the muscular strength, secretions, circulation, pulse, respiration, senses, and morbid or healthy conditions of the frame may be changed or controlled by the nervaura emitted from the hand of the operator acting upon the brain of the subject.

The number of individuals who can be thus affected is different in different places. In southern climates they are more numerous than in northern--in the pleasant weather of summer more than in winter--in lecture rooms, ball rooms and places of fervid religious worship, more than in the street and market place, where the intellectual and moral faculties are less predominant. In the Southern States of the Union, thirty or forty per cent. of the population will give at once distinct evidence of impressibility. In the more northern, about ten per cent. will give indications of an influence from the hand. A moderate degree of impressibility which is almost universal in the South, belongs to more than half in the North.

Impressible subjects may be selected by the development of the organs of Impressibility, and the general predominance of the frontal and coronal regions of the brain over the occipital. The qualities already mentioned as favoring impressibility may be studied in the character, or observed in the development, as they occupy the entire anterior half of the head, giving _breadth to the temples_, with height and projection to the forehead. An enlarged pupil of the eye will be one of the best symptoms, and, in connection with a calm, spiritual, gentle expression of countenance rarely fails to indicate impressibility.

To test impressibility apply the fingers upon the organ of Somnolence, an inch horizontally behind the brow, with a very gentle contact; your subject, after a few minutes, will manifest a sensitiveness of the eye, and will wink oftener than usual--his winking will be repeated and prolonged, until his eyelids droop or remain closed--he is now somnolent and dreamy; and this condition may be prolonged until it becomes the Mesmeric Somnolence, or may be promptly removed by brushing the excitement off with the fingers.

A very simple test of impressibility consists in passing the ends of the fingers over the palm of the hand of the subject, within one or more inches, and ascertaining whether he can recognize its passage by any impression. If impressible he will perceive a cooling sensation as the fingers pass. A more perfect demonstration is to let your subject stand erect before you, and apply both hands gently over the forehead and moral organs, or upon the temples; then very slowly withdraw them, and continue this process until you perceive that as your hand is withdrawn, the head seems inclined to follow it as if attracted; some will move thus but an inch or two, others will be drawn forward and compelled to follow you wherever you go, or may be drawn down and prostrated upon the floor. You may accomplish the same upon the back of the head or body--the hand or any other part which is free to move; but the forehead is the best region, because the front lobe is the seat of Impressibility, and the operation cultivates that quality, by drawing excitement into the brain, and especially the front lobe, thus debilitating the muscular system and power of resistance.

Apply the fingers upon the organ of Relaxation, below the cheek bone, and your subject, if standing, will become enfeebled, unsteady in attitude, and incapable of supporting as great weight as before in his extended hand. This will be counteracted by touching the region of Energy.

The most painful experiments may be made by placing the hands upon the temples and face, so as to cover the regions of Sensibility, Disease, Relaxation, and Irritability--the effect of which would be to produce bodily weakness, sickness, pain, distress and general prostration; a condition, which if not relieved, might result in severe disease, but which may be counteracted by dispersing the excitement upward and backward, and by stimulating Health, Energy and Hardihood.